


Firelight

by Gugusmith42



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Angst, But only in little spots, Canon-Typical Violence, Character death but much later, Cute and awkward OC, Elena Gilbert Bashing, Family, Family Relationships - Freeform, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Not Canon Compliant, OC is 14 so nothing romantic with any Canon characters, OC-centric, Protective Everyone, Protective Mikaelsons, Protective Tyler Lockwood, Soft Elijah, Soft Klaus, Vampires, Werewolf, Witches, for the most part it follows the events of the show.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 09:26:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15288516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gugusmith42/pseuds/Gugusmith42
Summary: Tell my friends I'm gone, it's trueI've passed on nowTo the eyes of a dark, lost blueLay down by the fire lightFor all I know it's the last timeTell my son I've goneawaywith you.The one in which a young girl who lives in Mystic Falls is forced to get involved with everything supernatural. Partially because of her friendship with Stefan Salvatore, and partially because of her father's species.-Cross-posted on Wattpad, same author.





	1. Epigraph

We dream of a world where purity can be found in humanity.  
But purity sits on a golden throne,  
Untouched by man and monster. 

The dreamers see this throne and cry.  
Why do you weep?  
Oh our Queen, you are our aspiration,  
The gold for our children  
The desire of earth. 

Purity laughs  
I am a goal  
Unobtainable by nature  
Wanted by all 

But if I let you touch me  
All will be scorned.  
I would be tarnished,  
The world dark.

The meeting place  
Of humanity and purity  
Is thought to be the most nightmarish kind of art. 

••••••••  
"You are too good for this world, but there are thousands of others like you and like them, you will be strengthened with time."

 

Annalee Moretti was the type of naive that loved despite getting little back, and loved with more of herself than there was to offer. An optimist in an ultimately pessimistic little town.


	2. Chapter 1: New Friendships

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What started it all.....

'Was I terrified for my first day of high school? Absolutely. 

Was I going to let that upset any other part of my life? Probably.'

She took a deep breath smoothing down her shirt one last time. Her mom tried to get her to dress up for school earlier, but she couldn't bear the idea of people doing that whole 'stare at me as I walk down the hallway' thing. 

Grabbing her backpack and lunch from the table downstairs, she kissed her siblings on the cheeks and made a mad dash out the door. The walk wasn't very far, maybe ten minutes. She had walked by the school enough times to know exactly how to get there. As she approached the buildings the mass amount of much taller teenagers almost made her turn around and run right back home. 'I mean come on? I wasn't cut out for this. I do well with people one on one not when people are staring at me wondering what the heck I am doing at high school when I look like a seventh grader and oh god they're staring at m-'

She was pulled out of her spiraling thoughts by the quickly approaching ground. She squinted her eyes shut and braced herself for the impact. With a thud, she landed harshly. 

'I'm so glad I'm on grass.' 

"Oh god, I'm sorry! Are you okay Miss?" She turned around on the ground and squinted up at the guy who held his hand out, waiting for her to grab it. His hand was cold, but he seemed to pull her up with no problem. She laughed awkwardly before waving him off. 

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine. Besides, getting run over kind of comes with the stature." His eyes seemed to scan down her body, only now noticing how short she actually was. He chuckled deeply. 

"No offense but how tall are you?" She puffed out her cheeks in a distinctly childlike way. 

"Five foot," she mumbled while her cheeks flushed a bright pink. Stefan chuckled again and couldn't help himself from ruffling up her already short hair. With a huff she quickly went to fix it, hoping it wouldn't look as bad as Mr. Green eyes had undoubtedly made it. 

"Okay shorty, don't look so sad." Again her cheeks lit up in flames as the boy chuckled. He held out his hand as they started to walk towards the door. "I'm Stefan." She beamed up at him, a shook his hand with mirth. 

"I'm Annalee, but most of my friends call me Lee." Stefan raised an eyebrow, ignoring the stares they were receiving.

"Oh, so we're friends now?" He had a slightly teasing tone, the smaller girl reminding him of what he had been like as a kid. 

"Well yeah!" She grinned at him, only for it to turn into a frown seconds later. "Wait no- if you don't want to be friends that's okay too, I'm sorry I should have aske-" Stefan cut off her worried rambling with a raised hand and a grin. 

"I'm kidding, we're friends." She let out a quiet sigh of relief. Stefan figured what the heck, befriending a young girl that would probably never bother him outside of school would be fine. Besides, she was endearing. Just as they reached the doors Stefan turned to her again with a question on his tongue. "So what year are you Annalee?" 

"Oh, I'm a freshman. What about you?" Curious brown eyes peered up at him.

"Junior." His eyes scanned the main hall, looking for the sign that said 'office'. 

"Ooooe, the first day of school and I already have two upperclassman friends, sweet!" She was practically high-fiving herself over this accomplishment. Stefan glanced back at her, again ignoring the stares sent their way.

"Two?" 

"Do you know Tyler Lockwood? He's basically my older brother." Stefan shrugged as if silently saying 'never heard of the guy.' She hummed, "Well he said he would find me when I got here but I've got no idea if he actually remembered or not." Stefan wanted to chuckle until he saw she was being serious. 

"That's... a little sad. Does he normally forget about you?" They had started walked again, assuming this Tyler could find her if he tried. 

"No, not Tyler. But I am pretty forgettable." He turned to gaze at her, there was no sadness in her eyes. As if she didn't notice how sad that statement sounded. She turned to him with a slight pout, "which is weird considering most people seem to remember my name just fine." She shrugged again, and they kept walking to what he assumed was the main office. 

~ 

Leading Stefan to a location she barely remembered was hard enough as is, but glancing around looking for Tyler every ten seconds made it a little harder. When they finally arrived, Stefan waved her off with a tight lipped smile telling her to go find her 'guide for the day.' As she walked away she came face to face with Bonnie, an older girl she had met in passing before. Bonnie lightly grasped her arm before she could walk away.

"Who is that?" she asked pointing to a turning away Stefan in the office. Lee grinned and had to stop herself from standing on her tiptoes in excitement. 

"That's Stefan. He's in your year but he says we're friends now so he's my friend." Her words came out quickly and Bonnie barely caught them, she laughed at the excited girl and ruffled her hair, before muttering a quick 'thank you' and walking away. As she walked away, Lee turned the other direction and quietly muttered an angry outburst of 'why do people keep touching my hair?'

Finding Tyler was weirdly difficult, especially considering she didn't find him, he found her after the first period. He was standing outside the freshman English class sending smirks or eyerolls at giggling girls and boys. When Annalee exited the classroom she was staring down at her schedule trying to remember where the science hall was. Tyler grinned and picked her up like she was nothing. Her panicked movements sent the people around them into laughing fits. Turning her head slightly she sighed out of relief. 

"Jeez Tyler, I thought I was getting kidnapped by one of those scary upperclassmen you warned me about." Tyler raised an eyebrow as he set her down. 

"Ah yes because someone would totally kidnap you in the middle of a crowded hallway," she blushed, "in a high school," he gazed down at her smugly, "in the middle of the day-"

"Okay! I get it! Don't have to be such a-" A hand was slapped over her mouth as Tyler stared at her with fake anger. 

"Nuh-uh! Don't want to hear it! No swearing from you yet." She laughed from under his hand and chuckled out an 'I was gonna call you a turd.' To which he promptly gave her a noogie, led her to her next class, and again made her wonder why everyone just had to mess with her hair. 

-

Despite the ride Tyler had offered her, Annalee still found herself walking home. Glancing towards the ever creepy cemetery, movement caught her eye. Peering through the fence she stared at what appeared to be Stefan and the Gilbert girl. A grin lit up her face. 

"Stefan!" Stefan and Elena turned towards the small girl on the other side of the fence, enthusiastically waving her hands. Stefan chuckled and waved back, Elena grinned before looking back at the boy. 

"You know the Moretti's?" She asked breathlessly looking at his smile.

"I know Annalee, she's... my friend." Elena laughed again.

"Interesting choice of friend." He ignored her word choice, opting to ask her about her leg. 

Annalee walked off after Stefan waved back, she didn't really care to know why those two were hanging out in the cemetery of all places. Even the grill was better than that place. Nothing against the grill, Tyler just believed she would be corrupted by drinking teenagers if she spent too much time in there. Tyler also believed that it was his duty to protect her and her siblings from just about everything bad in this world. Which didn't really work considering she liked to watch criminal minds as a family. 

Approaching her house she sighed at the familiar lack of cars, no doubt her siblings were still in class. Annalee had two younger siblings. Atticus and Ariel. Atticus was ten, with curly natural brown hair and warm brown eyes that were similar to Annalee's. Ariel was eight, with equally curly hair that was a red-brown shade that matched the constellation of freckles spanning across her face. Her eyes were the darkest of the three, but still brown. And while Annalee's paler complexion contrasted starkly with their darker tone, most people could see the relation.

After a couple hours of doing her very small amount of homework and then listening to music while she absentmindedly reread 'The Book Theif', the bustle of people finally entered the house. Sprinting downstairs she was greeted by the smell of Chinese food and her parent's tired faces. Giving both kisses on their cheeks she went to help with the food as Atticus and Ariel climbed up into their seats at the table. Lee spied a transformers toy in Ariel's hand. Quickly grabbing it as she passed by the table, Ariel started to whine before Atticus lightly flicked her head. Both siblings staring at the youngest disapprovingly. 

"You know the rules Ari, no toys at the dinner table." Ariel pouted before a plate was set in front of her, only daring to take a whiff of it before the rest of the family had sat down. 

"Hey, mom guess what?" Her mother, Alison, smiled at her eldest daughter and gestured for her to continue. She was a woman of few words. 

"I actually successfully made a friend today!" Both parents looked up at that. Their daughter had always struggled with making friends. She was incredibly kind-hearted, yes. But she also wasn't good at starting conversation and not the best with social cues. Not to mention the weird balance of immaturity and maturity that was perfected in her personality. Her father smiled and ruffled her hair as he passed by.

"Really? Tyler let you make friends? What a surprise!" He joked as they laughed. 

"Well, Tyler doesn't really know...." She sheepishly explained. Her dad's eyes went wide at that, Tyler not knowing something about Annalee? Weird. 

"What are they like?" Atticus asked before shoving a forkful of food into his mouth. 

"He's an upperclassman. But he knocked me down on accident this morning and he felt really bad. So I made a joke about my height and he actually laughed! It was like a Christmas miracle." She took a pause to take a bite of her food and ignore her parent's wary faces. "Then I showed him where the main office was and we deemed each other friends. Then I saw him at the cemetery with the Gilbert girl-- uh what's her name?" 

"Elena."

"Right! Thanks, Atticus. So I saw him there and I waved and he waved and so now I can officially say I have made a friend without someone else's help." Her excited voice and grin were met with amused smiles from her parents and a proud look from her siblings. Her dad cleared his throat and gave Annalee what he liked to call 'the dad stare.'

"As long as he's nice to you, doesn't hurt you, and doesn't pressure you into anything, I like him!"Lee laughed and pouted at him.

"Dad you said the almost same thing to me when I started hanging out with Tyler's friends." He raised a suspicious eyebrow with a noodle hanging out of his mouth.

"Lee, that was fourth grade. How on earth do you remember that?"

"What can I say, I have a good memory." She claimed smugly tilting her chin up in faux arrogance. 

"You forgot what Elena's name was literally two minutes ago." 

"Oh shush Atticus!" He rolled his eyes. "Anyways, Ariel how was soccer? And Atticus how was choir?" 

And like usual, the Wednesday family dinner continued on. Nothing out of the ordinary or strange. And when Annalee went to sleep that night, everything felt normal. Looking back, she would say this was the day that changed her life. But really, nothing much changed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the first official chapter! I update every Sunday so by tomorrow the next chapter will also be up. I hope you got a feel for Annalee's character a little bit here. Also just for the record, character development is incredibly important to me, so it's something that definitely will happen. Also there will be some slight changing of the way the first season happens, but not super major. 
> 
> Comment what you think! Thank you for reading


	3. Chapter 2: Strain

That Friday, Annalee was surrounded by rumors of what had happened last night at the bonfire. Whispers of how hurt Vicky Donovan was and others. She wasn't exactly sure if there actually was any others, considering no other names were ever mentioned.

   She couldn't decide who she was more worried for. Vicky Donovan who she barely knew, or Tyler who was most likely hurting considering the girl he liked just almost died.

   She approached Tyler from the other side of the fence, he was no doubt flirting with the girls next to him. Tapping on his shoulder got her a glance and a quick 'one-second' motion.

   A boy approached, the angry look on his face instinctively made Lee take a step towards Tyler. Elena's kid brother, Jeremy. God, he was tall for a sophomore.

   "Hey Tyler, I'm sorry to interrupt," Lee could tell he wasn't. "I was just wondering how's Vicky's doing since you guys are so close." His tone was borderline mocking, and Tyler's annoyed face just spurred him on. Lee spared at glance at Tyler and the girls next to him, whose furrowed eyebrows and glances towards her just made her shrug. 

   "She's fine," Lee sighed internally in relief. "Now get out of here." She raised an eyebrow at Tyler, that was a little rude. 

  "How bad is she? Do they know what attacked her? Is she going to make a full recovery?" Lee had half a mind to tell this guy to chill, all his questions were stressing her out and annoying Tyler. "Was she happy to see you? What room number is she in?" Lee moved further behind Tyler.

  "I'm gonna kick your ass." Tyler threatened lowly, only to be stopped by a comforting hand on his arm. Jeremy and Tyler both glanced at Lee as Jeremy scoffed. 

   "See you keep saying that, but when are you actually going to do it? Or do you not wanna scare little ol'Lee away?" Jeremy shoved him as Tyler stepped forward in challenge. Ty put one of his hands backward toward Lee. Her eyes were wide with fear. She really didn't want to see a fight on her third day of school. Especially one that involved Tyler. His hand grabbed her's in silent comfort. 

   "Walk away Gilbert. This is your final warning." Jeremy got in his face and glanced back at Lee.

  "No this is your final warning dick, I'm sick of watching you play Vicky. If you hurt her one more time I swear to god I will kill you." He paused in his threat and gestured towards the small girl behind them, "or worse, I'll hurt her the same way you hurt Vicki." Tyler lunged as Jeremy took a step back. 

   "You hurt her and I'm not going to be the one that's dead." He snapped as Jeremy scoffed and walked away. He turned to Lee, whose eyes were following Jeremy's back as he walked away. He gently grasped her face in his hands and forced her to look at him. "If he gives you any trouble, any, I want you to tell either Matt or I right away okay?" She nodded quickly, snapping her lips shut. He hugged her gently to his chest and then waved goodbye to the girls next to him. 

   "So what were you coming over for?" He sighed, the last thing he wanted was her getting involved the drama his dick-ish moves caused. 

  "I-I was going to ask how Vicky is but uh nevermind." He chuckled slightly. Of course, she would be concerned for her. "Tyler," she started, "what did he mean when he said you hurt Vicky?" Curious brown eyes peered into his. He raked his mind for an answer that wouldn't make her short-term hate him.

   "Nothing, he's just taking something too far because he's jealous." She wanted to push for more, but considering she was just threatened by someone twice her size she didn't really feel like pissing anyone else off. 

 -

  Annalee walked around the park with a sibling on either hand. Ariel giggled as she blew bubbles from the container Atticus held. They had set up a blanket in the grass about ten minutes ago, and now they were exploring the stands and hanging around. Her mom had given her some money to buy them food, but she knew she wouldn't see either of her parents tonight.  

  A little time had passed and plenty of adults and teenagers stood around her all holding candles. The last time Atticus and Ariel had been given candles they almost started a forest fire; so she held one as the other two lay on the blanket gazing up at the comet. 

   Stefan had been walking towards Elena when he spotted Annalee standing alone. He walked towards her, smiling at the amazement on her face as she stared up at the sky. 

   "Didn't think you'd be here." She jumped and her hand flew to her chest. She stared at him and grinned, her siblings clamoring up to meet the newcomer. 

   "Yeah well, it's pretty cool. Plus they really wanted to see it." She gestured back to her now standing siblings. Stefan smiled at them and nodded.

   "Family friends?" 

  "Siblings actually, this is-" She was cut off by Atticus sticking his hand out. 

  "Atticus Davis Moretti. Pleased to meet you." Annalee laughed and raised her eyebrows in astonishment, Stefan played along and gently shook the boy's hand while bowing. 

  "Pleased to make your acquaintance dear sir." Atticus turned and sat back down to watch the comet as his sister did her introductions.

  "I'm Ariel!" Her grin reminded Stefan so much of Annalee he was finally starting to see the resemblance. 

  "How are you, M'lady." Again Stefan bowed and Ariel made a fake gagging noise at his words. Stefan pretended to look offended as Annalee flicked the back of her sister's head. Stefan glanced at Elena and Lee followed his line of sight, gesturing him to go to the girl with a smile. Over by Elena, Tyler watched the interaction between the two. He glared as Stefan made his way over. 

  A little bit later, as her siblings sat half asleep on the blanket, Matt came running over. First, he talked to Stefan and then made his way over to the younger trio. 

   "Annalee -- have you seen Vicky?" She raised an eyebrow and shook her head 'no'. "We can't find her, you may want to take those two home." He gestured to her siblings. A shiver of fear ran through her. She may not know where Vicky Donovan was, but there is no way she is letting something happen to her siblings.  

   "Ariel, Atticus you guys gotta wake up now, we're going home." She sent a nod of gratitude Matt's way as the two children groaned and got up. She sped walked home, ignoring the pain in her ankle that flared up, and barely comprehending the glimpse of a girl and a guy standing on the edge of a building. 

-

Meanwhile, Tyler stood by the pool table, glaring at a conversing Bonnie and Stefan. Green eyes clashed with brown, and Stefan hesitated before making his way over to the boy. He raised an eyebrow as he approached, a silent question in the air. 

   "Why were you talking to Lee?" That wasn't the question he was expecting. Stefan nodded and gave a tight-lipped smile. 

  "You must be Tyler.." Said boy again glared. He was avoiding the question.

  "Yes, now why were you talking to Annalee and how do you know me?" Tyler slammed his pool stick on the table and he snapped at Stefan.

 "I believe we are friends," Tyler scoffed. "And she told me about you, said something about a protective brother figure." 

  "Great, so you know that I'm about to tell you to leave her alone." 

  "Why?"

 "She doesn't need to be hanging around mysterious upperclassmen who get involved with the Gilberts." 

 "The Gilbert's? Jeremy and Elena?"

 "Yes, those two. Jeremy has already threatened her once, I don't need another guy who thinks he can put her in danger to get to me." Tyler glowered.

 "He threatened her?" A sense of protectiveness came over Stefan, she was a kid, he wasn't about to let her get hurt. Tyler gave a stiff nod. "Considering me and you are basically her only friends; can you trust me to watch out for her." Tyler's eyes widened. Never had someone offered to look out for her the way he did. 

 "I don't know if I can trust you with that." His arrogance showing yet again.

 "I don't want her hurt any more than you do." They held each other's gaze for a minute before Stefan stuck out a hand. Tyler gripped his in a strong hold before slightly yanking him forward. 

 "If you do hurt her, you're dead meat." He hissed. He quickly let go, Stefan turned to leave with a nod. Tyler let out a sigh, that was one less thing he had to worry about. He knew that watching out for her constantly would be difficult now that she is in high school, but having one more person doing what he deemed his personal job made the whole thing a little less stressful.

  "Okayyy," Vicky drawled from the side, "whats with you and Lee?" Tyler rolled his eyes at her with a smile. 

 "She's like my sister, gotta protect her y'know?" Vicky smiled and batted her eyes.

 "Wow, didn't know you were capable of concern Tyler Lockwood." He smiled.

  "Oh please, I am very capable of concern." He took a couple steps closer to her, lightly grasping her hand. "We good Vic?" She smiled, nodded her head, and their lips collided gently. A type of kiss she wasn't used to from Tyler. 

-

  By the time the Moretti siblings arrived home, Ariel was asleep on Annalee's back and Atticus was dragging their blanket on the floor. Dad's car was in the driveway, mom's wasn't. Atticus ran ahead of her into the house, dropping off their things with no regard. She smiled and followed him to their shared room. She laid down Ariel as gently as she could, and with calculated movements changed the girl into her pajamas. When she turned around Atticus was already in bed holding out his favorite book for her to read. She sat down next to his bed and opened the book that she practically had memorized. 

   "It was a dark and stormy night..." Atticus sat transported into the story of a Wrinkle In Time.  After a couple of pages, his snoring interrupted her reading. She smiled softly and brushed a few strands of hair out of his face. Her dad was dead asleep in her parent's room, his loud snoring all the confirmation she needed. Her mom would be home soon no doubt, she was probably at the studio dancing out her frustration. 

  Lying in her bed, she thought over the day. Honestly, her first couple days of school hadn't been that bad. Sure, she got threatened by a scarier version of her worst nightmare but it wasn't so bad. It had been otherwise normal. 

  Despite how much she would look back on these first couple days of her friendship with Stefan, nothing had changed. Which was scary really, because she couldn't discern the difference between when her life was normal and exactly when it all went to hell.


	4. Friday night sights

Lee sat down on the grass next to Tyler and Matt, the latter of which was throwing a football with one of Tyler's friends. Tyler was staring at Elena and Stefan, taunting Matt with the obviously blooming relationship. Lee wanted to walk over and say hi, but even she could tell it would have been interrupting something between the pair. Instead, she put her head down into a book and drowned out the rest of the world. 

The rest of the world, however, apparently wanted her attention. She looked up just as Tyler caught the incoming ball. He stumbled back into her, and slightly stumbled over her backpack. A quiet shriek erupted out of her throat, catching the eye of Stefan. He sent a small smile her way before him and Elena walked off. 

"Shit, sorry Lee..." Tyler sent an apologetic look her way. "You okay?" She stood and dusted some dirt off her pants before sending him a grin. 

"Oh come on Ty, it takes more than that to hurt me." She puffed out her chest in false bravado. Tyler and Matt sent glanced at each other before laughing at the small girl. 

"Yeah, sure, says the girl who broke her wrist tripping over a soda can." Tyler ruffled her hair. 

"Okay that is not relevant." She flared up at him and Matt let out a loud laugh. Briefly wondering how they weren't actually related. 

-

The day went by with little to no drama for Annalee. Her English class was starting with a unit on romanticism and gothic literature, and while she loved it, not many of her classmates shared her enthusiasm. They would be reading Dracula, and the nerd within her was ready for some fictional undead monsters. 

She walked by the football field on her way home and caught a glimpse of, what looked like, Stefan walking onto said field. But, she kept walking. After all, she had siblings to get home to. 

She talked with them like usual, and despite the comfort of her siblings, she felt a little lonely. She had always been a loner. Not many, if any, friends to speak of that were her own age. She had always had Tyler though. It felt like since birth, he had been watching over her. Which was sorta true, her family was good friends with the Lockwoods and often decided to let baby her and toddler Tyler duke it out in mean games of tug-of-war. Throughout the years she had mostly 'befriended' his friends. Even then, most were just acquaintances. High school, would bring more friends of her own... she hoped.   
-  
The next day was just like the last. The only thing she was looking forward to was the football game that night, and it couldn't come soon enough. 

She stood with the crowd of Timberwolf fans, cheering as Tanner praised Stefan. Truthfully she was surprised he was starting the boy, it wasn't like Tanner to actually like a student. She tried to catch Tyler's eye, hoping to get in a good luck thumbs up before the game started, but he stormed off. She eased out of the crowd and followed him, eyebrows furrowed in worry. 

He walked up to Vicky. Lee was going to turn back around and give them space when she saw Tyler falter. They both spotted Jeremy. Annalee couldn't help but want to cower back into the crowd, the boy looked dangerous with the bottle of beer dangling in his fingers.

Tyler stormed up to the boy, and while Lee didn't catch what he said, the punch Jeremy threw immediately sent her running up to the pair. Vicky yelled at the pair to stop, mostly Tyler. She saw Lee run up to them from the corner of her eye and knew better then to let her get between the two. Vicky pulled her back, vainly holding onto her wrist. Lee sent her a glare before roughly yanking her wrists out of the other girls grasp. 

She walked up to the two, not paying any mind to the crowd that was beginning to gather around the fight. Jeremy was on the ground, but managed to gain the upper hand and flip them back over. Lee aimed a well timed kick to Jeremy's stomach, sending him reeling. 

"Get away from him." She didn't have to try to sound scary, the only thing on her mind right now was anger. Tyler stood up behind her, just then realizing who had gotten involved. Jeremy stood, and with no hesitation, charged at the girl. There was a scream from someone behind them. 

Tyler spun her around, guarding her from the full force of the hit. She rolled out from under Tyler and he pushed her back, right into Stefan. As Tyler threw another punch, Stefan held onto the struggling Annalee, then realizing he would have to step in. He let go of Lee, but rushed ahead of her to pull Tyler off of the downed Jeremy. 

"Hey he's out! Enough!" Stefan pulled him off, only to be met with a punch to the gut. Jeremy crawled toward a broken bottle, and swung it wildly toward Tyler. Instead of slicing of his target, Stefan took to the cut to his hand. Elena rushed to Jeremy, Matt to Tyler, and Lee to Stefan. 

"Stef? Did he get you?" Her breathe was labored and attempted to look at his hand. 

"No Lee, I'm fine." She raised a doubting eyebrow and opened her mouth to respond, but was cut short by Elena rushing over to them and indirectly shoving Annalee out of the way. Lee took a hesitant step back, and after sparing a concerned glance to the boy, she rushed to find Tyler. 

She found him about to walk toward the locker rooms, calming down with Matt. He looked over at her and his face relaxed another notch. The pair ran to each other, meeting a tight hug. 

"God, why did you get involved." He whispered into her hair, running his hands through the short strands as if to assure himself she was fine. 

"You protect me, I do my best to protect you." Her words were muffled into his chest, but he heard them loud and clear. He hugged her tighter for a moment and placed a chaste kiss to the forehead before running off into the locker room with a tired smile and a salute. 

__

Once in the locker room, there was a tense silence between Matt and Tyler. Tyler took another deep breathe, hoping to ignore the pain in his face and ease the awkwardness. 

"Tanner's been MIA for a while, maybe he had too much to drin-" Tyler's voice was cut off by Matt's anger. 

"Don't talk to me right now, I'm pissed at you." 

"What's your problem?" Tyler has a feeling he knows what it is, but slams the locker shut and turns toward Matt anyway.

"You're my problem all right?!?" Matt slams his helmet down on the bench, "You're a bully, to everyone except Annalee, but even tonight you didn't think twice before picking on Jeremy! I'm sick of it okay?" Tyler scoffs, he didn't need to bring Lee into this, how was he supposed to know she would get involved. "And I'm sick of you screwing with my sister," Matt stands up, finally getting in Tyler's face. "And bullying my girlfriend's kid brother." Tyler raised his eyebrows, clicking his tongue before looking at Matt again. 

"Girlfriend? Look I don't know how to tell you this but she dumped your ass!" Matt was getting steadily more pissed off with every word. "And if he's such a kid, tell him to stop threatening my friends and trying fuck your sister." Matt grabbed his gear, shoving him against locker.

"Are you for real?" Tyler shoves him off, looking at his friend incredulously. "You wanna hit me? I'm on your team!"

"This was over the line, even for you." Matt stormed out, hoping for some fresh air. 

Instead, he hears whimpering. He takes slow steps towards the noise, only to discover Annalee with tears running down her face as she stares at the dead body of Mr. Tanner. He gently pulls her away, there's blood on her hands, as if she was trying to staunch the blood flow. He yells for help and pulls her away from the crime scene. 

__

The police are asking her questions about what happened. She doesn't know, and tells them that when she walked over Tanner was choking on his own blood. It's true. They push her over to the edge of a truck, where Matt and another shock blanket are there waiting for her. Matt goes to hold her but she shuffles away. She wants Tyler, but more than anything she wants to go home. She wants to cry, the image of the life leaving Tanner's eyes won't leave her mind and she wishes she could just sleep it off.

A minute later, Tyler is pulling her away from Matt. He crouches down slightly, letting her jump onto his back. His mouth opens, and shuts, and opens, and shuts. How can you comfort someone in a situation like this? He squeezes her legs, and clenches his eyes shut. He wants to cry. He wants to cry for her. This isn't going to leave her, he knows that. He just wishes he could chase away the pain that would inevitably follow. 

But one person couldn't possibly ward off how much pain was about to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this chapter, as I said in the first chapter I will be updating every Sunday from here on out. I hope you are liking the relationship between Tyler and Annalee. Are you ready for Annalee's first meeting with Damon? I am.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just the teaser ;)


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